Life Form Exhibition at Viewpoint Photographic Art Center

Life Form opened on March 6 to the public and was celebrated in a Member's opening on the evening of March 9th, a public opening on March 10 and featured a lecture on March 11. The prints will be on display at Viewpoint through April 7.

The Members Opening was very busy with many old friends dropping by. The Public Opening had almost 400 people come by, the Lecture was standing room only. I was very pleased with the attendance and their reactions to the work.

A Review of the Viewpoint Show

Today we live in a world where photography is digital, the product of the ubiquitous cell phone camera. It is perhaps fortunate, given that this is “Photography Month Sacramento,” that we are treated to an exhibit that allows us to see what this technology makes possible. The photography of Stephen Johnson, at the Viewpoint Gallery in Sacramento, allows us to realize a view of our environment where we do not live in the Kodachrome world many photographic artists embrace. Johnson’s intimate explorations in this exhibition titled Life Form depict the organic forms to be found in flowers and other flora.

Although Life Form marks a departure from his much praised grand landscapes, Johnson maintains a high ethic that only someone with a total understanding of digital photographic technology can achieve. By mastering techniques known as focus stacking and obsessive color management, and joining them in marriage with his unique vision and respect for the natural world, Stephen Johnson’s Life Form exposes the often-ignored subtleties in his themes. These are large prints depicting small subjects and yet they retain, in exquisite detail, the structures to be found therein. It is hard not to find oneself drawn into this world that we are surrounded by yet seldom see.